Chapter 97: The Silent Heavenly Palace

A thick, foul stench of rotting corpses surged into his nostrils, terrifyingly close!

It seemed that if he leaned just a fraction closer, the splattered droplets of blood would strike his face with force!

Chen Hang suddenly tensed, a chill spreading through his entire body, a dread so terrible and horrifying striking straight into his heart.

Yet before he could react, the moment the skinned blood corpse touched his arms, everything abruptly dissolved into nothingness.

Like a hazy illusion reflected on water.

Merely a fleeting, insubstantial bubble…

The skinned blood corpse came swiftly.

And vanished just as quickly.

In but a few blinks, the mournful, piercing wails faded slowly, as if abruptly severed by infinite distance, growing fainter until nearly inaudible.

Chen Hang’s expression darkened; his nostrils twitched slightly.

At this point, the blood corpse’s shrieks had vanished entirely; had it not been for the lingering, pungent stench in the air—persistent and vile—it might have seemed like a nightmare from a dream.

He fell silent for a moment, his gaze flickering.

The wandering cultivators and the Blood Lotus Sect’s Qi-Condensation cultivators beside him remained utterly unaware, eyes half-closed, faces solemn.

At particularly profound passages, they couldn’t help but sway their heads, clapping rhythmically in admiration.

Upon the thirteen-zhang altar.

Huaiwu Cave Master also remained calm and composed, gently swaying his dust whisk as pearls and jade scattered, his voice echoing like thunder, shaking the clouds.

He expounded the Dharma, elucidating the sacred and enlightened.

All within this vast palace appeared serene and oblivious, as if they noticed nothing.

As if only he—only Chen Hang—had seen that vision!

As if…

It had been deliberately arranged for him alone to witness it clearly…

The Dharma lecture continued here as before.

But in Chen Hang’s vision, countless strange and eerie scenes now arose before him—demons and specters everywhere…

…

On the rafters, thick coils of giant serpent-human hybrids lay entwined in copulation, their faces ranging from men to women, young to old, their ten-foot tails dragging from the beams to the floor, rustling softly like gauzy curtains stirred by wind.

Before the wide-open gates stood a group of red-skinned dwarves, each with four eyes and eight ears, clutching crimson steel tridents; from time to time, they plucked uncooked, bloody chunks of meat from their tridents and shoved them into their mouths, dripping blood, their eyeballs rolling wildly over Chen Hang, whispering among themselves in incomprehensible, grotesque tongues.

When Chen Hang’s gaze swept over them, they scampered away giggling, chasing one another.

But soon after, they surged back together, their eyes brimming with unmasked malice, as if about to burst forth, saliva dripping thickly across the floor…

Headless, bloated corpse-golems writhed like white maggots.

The blood in the pool spontaneously played stringed music, resonant and sharp.

Beneath the sunlight, countless wheels spun endlessly, glowing like blazing fire; as they passed through his body, they left behind strange, guttural hums and groans.

Far off, a six-faced golden giant, as tall as a mountain, squatted near the palace; when it turned its gaze toward Chen Hang, even the clouds were halted.

Within his field of vision…

All was blinding gold light…

“The Xuan Pi is spirit and qi; the mouth and nose are its gates. Exhale and inhale, long and slow, continuous and unbroken, returning to the root, restoring life. The Yang rises to invoke the Great Elixir, harmonizing with the taste of spirit and qi, allowing it to flow through all meridians, irrigating the three dantians—this is the true and supreme medicine for clearing the passages and purifying impurities.”

—“At that time, the Great Demon King Chongyu spoke these true words, and immediately the three thousand great thousand-worlds experienced sixty-six great tremors.”

…

“Take one jin of Ziying Mother Stone, grind into fine powder, add two liang each of gallstone powder and yellow crow powder, grind together into powder.”

—“At that time, the immortals, Buddhas, and gods were terrified, all simultaneously gazing upward into the void, seeing a vast, boundless demonic image looming above the sun, moon, and five planets, illuminating countless, infinite worlds, its voice shaking the calamities of great and small eons, causing all to tremble in fear, their bodies losing their radiance.”

…

“Three sheng of bitter wine enter the furnace; nurture for seven days and nights, alternating fire between Zi, Chou, Mao, and Yin; when lead dissolves and mercury retreats, half a palm’s worth of medicinal paste may be obtained.”

—“If sentient beings refuse to revere the demonic path and hear this sound, they shall suffer inferior bodies, incomplete senses, ugliness, stupidity, blindness, deafness, muteness, paralysis, hunchbacks, leprosy, madness—all manner of suffering and affliction shall befall them.”

…

“After sealing and securing, store in fine porcelain and bury three zhang three chi deep at the place where the first yang arises; seal the elixir for seventy-seven days, then retrieve it—the Great Medicine is complete.”

—“Destroy the virtuous, eradicate the wicked; plague waters surge, war and fire encircle; evil begets evil, wickedness begets wickedness… Reverence the Great Demon King Chongyu, the equal lord of all karmic suffering, destroyer of life and fortune, trampler of the righteous Dao and heavenly glory!”

…

Horrifying monsters, terrifying dances!

And not merely these strange phenomena—the very voice of Huaiwu Cave Master preaching upon the altar.

In Chen Hang’s ears,

Had been utterly twisted, warped into a terrifying demonic scripture—utterly different!

Great Submersion! Great Annihilation! Great Decay! Great Withering!

Gradually, gradually…

As the narration grew clearer, the demonic scripture shifted from others’ praise and worship of “Chongyu the Great Demon King” into Chongyu’s own voice, revealing a supreme divine technique.

The divine talisman characters, resembling bird claws or beast hooves, appeared one by one in his heart-field as the demonic chanting echoed.

Chen Hang felt as if he had fallen into mist and clouds, dazed and blurred; when he came to his senses, half an hour had passed as if in a dream.

“...The Silent Heavenly Palace’s Sacred Prayer Great Method.”

A scripture suddenly appeared in his mind.

As if, with a single thought, he could release his restraint and fully behold it all.

But Chen Hang had no time to examine it closely; he glanced briefly—and was startled by the scene before him.

The golden giant, the dwarves, the wheels, the giant serpents…

These demons and specters had, without notice, drawn near, surrounding him in a tight circle; their phantom forms passed through Huaiwu Cave Master and the others, as if two separate voids had briefly overlapped.

“The Silent Heavenly Palace’s Sacred Prayer Great Method.”

A red-skinned dwarf released his trident and prostrated himself before Chen Hang.

He stood beside the Blood Lotus Sect’s Qi-Condensation cultivator; as he bowed, his head passed cleanly through the cultivator’s abdomen, protruding several inches from his waist—as if the cultivator had grown an extra skull, absurd and comical.

Yet within the entire hall, only Chen Hang could clearly perceive these terrifying entities and hear their sounds.

This chilling yet absurd scene naturally remained unseen by any other.

“The Silent Heavenly Palace’s Sacred Prayer Great Method.”

The colossal golden giant, as tall as a mountain, also knelt down, countless pavilions and towers hollowly embedded within its flesh.

“The Silent Heavenly Palace’s Sacred Prayer Great Method!”

All the red-skinned dwarves gradually knelt to the ground, the wheels halted, the copulating serpent-human hybrids slithered down from the rafters…

All the monsters shrieked the same phrase in different tones, yet those previously incomprehensible, grotesque utterances now became perfectly clear, merging into a single, unified cry.

“The Silent Heavenly Palace’s Sacred Prayer Great Method! Reverence the Great Demon King Chongyu!”

The first red-skinned dwarf to prostrate raised his head and spoke respectfully to Chen Hang:

“Demon Son.

Please perform the rite—”

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